U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in his first in-country visit, held meetings with government officials on Nigeria’s maternal and infant health care services but avoided meeting even a single one of the 120 human rights NGOs in Human Rights Nigeria, the umbrella group said.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in his first in-country visit, held meetings with government officials on Nigeria’s maternal and infant health care services but avoided meeting even a single one of the 120 human rights NGOs in Human Rights Nigeria, the umbrella group said.
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‘Human Rights Nigeria’ expressed disbelief at the U.N. chief’s decision to meet only government representatives.
In a statement yesterday (Wednesday) Human Rights Nigeria rejected the UN chief’s view that Nigeria’s health care system was improving.
“The network condemns the Secretary General … for openly announcing that Nigeria’s health care delivery system was improving, when on the contrary, the cases of maternal and infant mortalities in the country are among the highest in the world.
Further, the group pointed out, Nigeria’s dismal human rights record was already known to the U.N. through the Special rapporteurs on torture, and UN Human Rights Council’s UPR reports on Nigeria.
“Extrajudicial killings by police and other state agencies occur on a daily basis and perpetrators are not properly investigated or punished,” the group wrote, adding that tens of thousands of people had been killed in the various religious, ethnic and political conflicts that have engulfed the nation since 2004.
“Most recently, these include killings arising from the conflicts in the north central Nigeria especially in Plateau state, the police attack on Boko Haram members and associated reprisals killings, violence in the Niger Delta, April 2011 post election crises in Northern Nigeria, etc.”
The rights group gave an instance of a woman detained with three children (infant inclusive) because her husband was a suspected sect member.
Hajia Sa’aduatu Umar and her 3 infant children, including a 10-month old, have been detained by police in Bauchi since Mar. 12, 2011. They have been detained at Area 10 police station Abuja on allegations that her husband is suspected member of Boko Haram sect and at large, the group wrote.
“Nigeria’s prisons are still in deplorable condition, with over 80% of the inmates awaiting trial detention. The bill to reform prison services in the country has been pending in the National Assembly since 1999,” HRN said.
The group highlighted the government’s failure to fulfill the human rights treaties it already ratified.
“Nigeria has ratified almost every human rights treaty, including the National Action Plan for the promotion and protection of human rights, but it has demonstrated little or no commitment to implement and enforce its obligation to respect, protect and fulfill the rights contained in those treaties.
“Human Rights Nigeria network expected the UN Secretary General to take up with Nigeria government, especially the relevant government agencies, these and other key human rights issue during his visit, and to demand that the government increased it political and financial commitments to respecting its human rights obligations under the constitution and ratified international and regional treaties.
“It is only in this way that the visit of the respected Secretary General will have meaning for millions of poor and indigent Nigerians who suffer human rights abuses on daily basis in this country,” the group added.
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